From the outside, the cottage nestled Thursday behind a neat front yard white picket fence at 318 Kentucky St. appeared to be an unassuming part of the neighborhood.

Not so, say those who know it best. It has habitually provided shelter for a string of illegal tenants, some rowdy and others quiet, neighbors say.

On Thursday, with the help of several police officers, the city took action to oust the home's tenants, in what may prove to be a model case for future illegal tenant or so-called squatter evictions, city officials said.

The home is now tagged "uninhabitable," with warnings that to re-enter the property is a misdemeanor offense, officials said.

"There have been a lot of different people living here - it's been some kind of transference from one squatter to another," said onlooking neighbor Tambi Talib. "(But now) all the demons are leaving."

It remained unclear Thursday whether the Kentucky house's residents, who were notified by the city more than two weeks ago that they would have to pay to have the water turned on or vacate the site, were illegal "squatters" or victim of a rental scam, officials said.

City officials were working to find shelter for one man at home at the time of the court-ordered property inspection Thursday morning, and a city-hired contractor was due to secure the property. Bank of America officials also changed door locks, officials said.

City Manager Dan Keen said the crackdown on the Kentucky Street home came after neighbors attending a Vallejo City Council meeting last month shared "terrible" stories of how the home's residents were "terrorizing" the neighborhood. The property's former owner, Todd Bishop. now a southern California resident, also spoke out at a meeting Tuesday. Bishop lost the home in 2010 when he filed for bankruptcy, however, his name remained on the deed -- making Bishop the target for angry neighbors, he said.

"It was an emergency situation that the city ignored," Bishop said in an interview of his eight months of work to draw the city's attention to the property. "It's too late for the neighbors. They've been put in danger."

Thursday's effort, which earned praise from several passing drivers and neighbors, drew together police, city attorneys, code enforcement, fire inspection and building officials.

"This is our first coordinated effort with the Neighborhood Law Program -- you're seeing really the first real fruits of that (program)," Keen said Thursday afternoon. "What you saw us do today is flex our muscles, but it's certainly not the last time. We're not letting these houses take over our city."

Keen acknowledged that Vallejo has a "long and growing list" of illegally occupied homes, in part due to a past lack of a coordinated response from the city to the issue, he said.

Moving forward, banks will be an important partner in resolving this issue, Keen said.

"(The banks) now have to follow through. We've done some of the dirty work, getting squatters out of the houses; it's up to the banks to sustain them," Keen said. "We wouldn't have this problem if we had better stewardship of these properties by these banks."

Staff writer Irma Widjojo contributed to this report.

Contact staff writer Jessica A. York at (707) 553-6834 or jyork@timesheraldonline.com. Follow her on Twitter @JYVallejo.